The toiler. (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, October 16, 1920, Image 15

Image and text provided by Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, OH

SATURDAY, OCT. 16th, 1020THE TOILERPAGE 13The Councils of ActionBy Max Worth.European Correspondent for the Federated Press."How strong are the Councils of Action?"I asked George Lansbury, Editor of the DailyHerald and one of the members of the CentralCouncil."Strong enough to stop the war with Russia," he answered. "Strong enough to tie up everyimportant British industry within forty-eighthours. And let me tell you, the Councils are notgoing out of business until this country has madepeace with the Government of the Soviets."Mi. Lansbury then explained how the CentralCouncil had come into being at the criticalhourwhen it seemed certain that the Government wasabout to declare open warfare against the Russians; when indeed, it was supposed that theGovernment had sent a drastic ultimatum to Russia. The Parliamentary Committee of the TradeUnion Congress, the Executive Committee of theLabor Party and the Parliamentary Labor Partyeach selected five members of the total of fifteen.'The Council, so constituted, was called the"Labor and Russia Council of Action." Later,nine other men were added to the Council makingits present membership twenty-four. A specialLabor Congress, summoned to consider the emergency, endorsed the Council and gave it full powerto take such action as might seem necessary toprevent the war with Russia.Local Councils Spring Up."Meanwhile local Councils of Action havebeen organized in some four hundred of the principal industrial centres of the United Kingdom.The movement has grown like wild-fire and hasbehind it the unanimous support of practicallyevery branch of the working class movement inGreat Britain."The British people do not want to fight awar with the workers of Russia. They are firmlyconvinced that the Russians have the right to setup the kind of government that suits them. TheCouncil of Action was organized at the psychological moment when it rounded up all of that tidalwave of intense, feeling.'The real strength of the Council lies in thefact that it holds an economic mandate. It haspower to cause direct and immediate action onthe field of production."The Position Of The Government."What is the position of the Government withregard to the Council ?" I asked."The Government holds that it is unconstitutional", answered Mr. Lansbury "that it is in facta Soviet. Consequently they have launched a savage attack against the Council and everyone connected with it. And that is exactly what we needed to make our ground sure. The more the Government attacks the Council as a workingman'ssoviet, the more the workers will feel that theyhave to support it. The best service the capitalists can do it to go on with the attack."Take the case of the Herald. Before theyprinted that story about our having been subsidized by the Russians with Chinese bonds, ourcirculation was around three hundred thousand.On that attack, we went up thirty thousand. During the last few days, we have been attackedagain this time by the leader of the press.Yesterday we printed close on to three hundredand seventy-five thousand."The Next Step Forward"Organized labor must form a general staff,or must delegate to some other authority the power to organize and to act in all matters concerning the welfare of labor. Capital is organised today as it never was before, locked and interlocked together, regimented, ready for mobilizationat a moments notice. Our forces must be in asgreat a state of preparadness and must never becaught lacking."At the present time we are in the throesof tremendous industrial difficulties. I believethat Lloyd George and British capital have deliberately organized and schemed Us into the present position. They want a big fight with our forces, and they are choosing their own ground. Thpresent Council of Action is authorized to deal only with the Russian crisis. What British Laborneeds is a Council of Action that is on the job allof the time and ready to deal with any emergency."